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Thursday, May 05, 2016

Westbard developer expected to submit sketch plan within weeks

If Montgomery County Council President Nancy Floreen's assertion that the Westbard sector plan is "a 30-year plan" caused you to chuckle, you won't be surprised to learn that the first major project is getting started immediately. Developer Equity One has announced today that it expects to submit a sketch plan to the County planning department within the next few weeks.

This is expected to cover much if not all of Equity One's 22 acres along Westbard Avenue and Ridgefield Road.

The company says it will be meeting with adjacent property owners as part of the sketch plan process. No pre-application community meeting has been announced to the public as of this writing.

Have robots bringing you your fast food meal to your car while you're having it charged in the EV station in the enclosed garage.

That will be as much fun as hanging out in the parking lot of a Hot Shoppes, back in the 1960s, while waitresses on roller skates bring your food to your car and hang the tray on the door frame. Crank up the Beach Boys!

2:18: 2019. I would prefer Wegmans to Whole Foods. The small scale Wegmans is about 70000 SF; Equity One's grocery space was said to be in the 60000 SF range. Why not just add 10000 and go after Wegmans (who have the weirdest business model, opening in low-income areas before coming to Bethesda)?

2:39: I would be delighted - don't forget Taco Bell, Burger King, Hardee's, Roy Rogers, and Jack in the Box. A drive-thru location on River Road would generate more revenue than an in-line restaurant space on Westbard, though.

Dyer is right. A drive-thru would generate some real money. I go to the McD's drive thru on a regular basis and there's always a line for it. For me, I have 2 small children in the car so it's a lot faster than trying to go inside, but would prefer options other than McD's.

Please enlighten me as to what "low-income" areas Wegmans opened in? (Although I guess you could consider pretty much everywhere in the country "low-income" compared to Bethesda)

Wegmans only builds in high-income suburbs with lots of space. Bethesda is very urbanized with very few large developable parcels, and Wegmans prefers surface parking (although the Germantown store has a "parking deck" above its lot). Also, Wegmans won't build a store smaller than 90,000 SF in Bethesda.